


Spectral

by Glaux_Bryonia



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2017-02-03
Packaged: 2018-09-11 06:12:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8961358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glaux_Bryonia/pseuds/Glaux_Bryonia
Summary: Ichigo meets a lady in a candy shop when he is three. A spirit lady who conceals herself with veils and robes, with riddles and fans and smiles. A lady who refuses to tell him her name. She is the first but not the last to change him, and when the Shinigami finally make their appearance they meet a very different Ichigo.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Sight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1603463) by [cywscross](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cywscross/pseuds/cywscross). 



> Frequently occurring Japanese terms:  
> Okaa: mom/mother.  
> Otou: dad/father.  
> Nii: big brother. Variations: Onii, Ani, and Aniki.
> 
> Honorifics:  
> -san = this is the most common honorific, and is equivalent to Mr, Mrs, Miss, etc. It is the all-purpose honorific and can be used in any situation where politeness is required.  
> -kun = is used at the end of boys' names to express familiarity or endearment. It is also sometimes used by men among friends, or when addressing someone younger or of lower station.  
> -chan = is used to express endearment, mostly towards girls. It is also used for little boys, pets, and even among lovers. It gives a sense of childish cuteness.  
> [blank] = often forgotten, but perhaps the most significant difference between Japanese and English. The lack of honorific means that the speaker has permission to address the person in a very intimate way. Usually, only family, spouses, or very close friends have this kind of permission. Known as yobisute, it can be gratifying when someone who has earned the intimacy starts to call one by one's name without a honorific. But when the intimacy hasn't been earned, it can also be very insulting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So… new story! I really shouldn't be doing this. It isn't as if I don't have enough stories to work on already. But the idea popped up and it wouldn't leave, so I thought it was only fair that I would not be the only one having to deal with it. At least this chapter made me practice writing a little kid's POV, which is surprisingly difficult.
> 
> Special thanks go to [Cywscross](http://archiveofourown.org/users/cywscross/) for inspiring this fic with her story 'Sight'. With her permission I am borrowing her idea for Ichigo's ability. Cywscross, thank you!
> 
> Enjoy!

 

Ichigo blinked. There was a lady in the shop.

He was three and his mom had taken him to a candy shop because he had been a good boy, waiting so patiently at the hospital while the doctors checked her tummy. They had been to this shop before, but Ichigo had never seen this lady. She was standing quietly near the back of the store, a bored look on her pale face.

She was a very odd lady, dressed in a beautiful costume. A kimono in all shades of red and gold, multi-layered like a princess' robe, and with delicate pins and combs in her long black hair, keeping it pinned in elegant loops on the back of her head. Like his mom's old Hinamatsuri dolls. She was pale, with crimson lips and eyelids, the deep, vibrant red enhanced with a glistening dusting of gold. She was very pretty.

She was also wearing a wide hat with red veils hanging from the rim. If she hadn't been turned his way he wouldn't have been able to see her face. It was almost as if she was hiding. Except the fabric wasn't really the right colour for that.

"Hello," Ichigo greeted the lady, eyes wide and curious. "Didya know that it's rude to wear hats inside?"

The lady blinked. Frowned a tiny bit as she looked around. A thin eyebrow rose. She looked down at Ichigo. "… Excuse me, what did you say?"

"Okaa-chan says it's rude to wear hats inside," Ichigo told her. "Otou-chan says 'Kaa-chan's always right." His hand brushed the long, semi-transparent veil. It was so light it almost didn't feel real. "Didn'ya know?" he asked curiously.

"… You can see me," the lady murmured, ignoring Ichigo's statement. She tapped her chin with a fan, looking thoughtful. The ret tassels at the tip brushed her cheek. She snapped it open, hiding her lower face behind scarlet folds decorated with patterns in bronze and gold. Cherry-red eyes stared down at him over the rim. "What is your name, boy?"

"… Ichigo," Ichigo answered. "Okaa-chan says it means First Protetor, 'cause I'm gonna be a big brother." He puffed up proudly.

"Ichigo," she repeated slowly, as if exploring the shape of the sounds.

"What's your name?" Ichigo asked.

She regarded him for a long moment, making him squirm and feel as if he'd done something wrong.

"What would you call me," she asked curiously, "if I did not answer that question?"

Ichigo thought about it. Shrugged. "Red lady."

She chuckled, soft and low. Her fan made the sound quiet and secretive. "I suppose that is not too far from the truth." For the first time, Ichigo saw her eyes crinkle in a smile. "Yes," she decided. "That will be quite acceptable."

"Huh?"

She bent forward, sitting on her haunches so she could look him in the eye. This close, her hat – which she still hadn't taken off, much to Ichigo's bemusement – shadowed both of them, the veils concealing them from the rest of the world.

"From now on," she told the three year old, "You may call me Red Lady. It is a pleasure making you acquaintance, Ichigo-kun."

Ichigo blinked. "Why not your real name?" he asked with the blunt innocence of a child.

Another crimson smile, this time almost nostalgic. "That is not my way. I never _give_ my name, Ichigo-kun. If you wish to call me by my true name you will have to earn that right."

"Why?"

"Maybe one day you will understand," she said absently, fingers fluttering butterfly-light over his hair in an almost-pat-on-the-head. "Until that day, you could say it is merely because I desire it this way."

With those words, Red Lady rose and walked to the door at the back of the shop, just as it opened and his mother stepped through. Ichigo thought they were going to walk right into each other, but before he could call a warning Red Lady passed through his mother like a ghost. His mom didn't even seem to notice that someone had just walked through her!

Ichigo stared after Red Lady, wide-eyed and awed, until his mother told him to stop daydreaming. He grinned as he grabbed a bag of his favourites. He couldn't wait to tell his mommy about the pretty ghost lady!

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Ichigo's mom was enamoured with the idea of a pretty ghost lady in the candy shop, happily joining Ichigo in his speculations on where Red Lady might come from. At the moment she was placing bets on a really good cosplayer with a love for quaint little candy shops who had died a tragic death and had decided to seek out comfort among the sweets. Ichigo supposed that if his mother thought so it was likely true.

"But Ichi-chan, I didn't see her," his mom complained playfully. "Couldn't you have asked her to wait? I would have liked to talk to her."

Ichigo shrugged. "I don't think she wannet to."

His dad just listened to their conversation with amusement. "I'm pretty sure the owner of that shop would know if there was a ghost in his home," he told Ichigo. "He knows a lot about ghosts. He wouldn't have missed her, especially if she's as pretty as you say."

"Maybe they live together," Ichigo said, remembering the silly blond man with his green clothes and silly hat. "He's got a weird hat too. And a fan. But hers are prettier."

His dad laughed. "Maybe they do. And they all eat candy together and hide it behind their fans so nobody knows. And they've got a secret stash beneath their hats so nobody can steal it."

Ichigo's eyes went wide. "You think?" he asked, awed by such an incredible idea. He tried to imagine it. "So that's why she didn't take her hat off! 'Kaa-chan, can I have a hat and fan too?"

While his mom burst into giggles his dad pouted at him. "But Ichigo, then we wouldn't know when you're eating candy, and then all the candy will be _gone_! And your poor old Otou-chan won't have any, and your poor Okaa-chan will have all her nice meals left over because you would be all full of candy! you're already my sweet little kiddo, you don't need to be any sweeter!"

Ichigo wrinkled his nose. "I wouldn't eat _everything._ Just a little. And I eat 'Kaa-chan's food!"

"Not your vegetables, you don't."

"Greens are icky," Ichigo agreed.

His dad swept him up in a hug. "Aww, but they're _good_ for you! How else are you going to be a _big_ Onii-chan? You'll just stay tiny and scrawny and then your little siblings will need to eat extra so they can take care of their tiny Onii-chan!"

"Nu-uh! I dun' need greens!" Ichigo protested, wriggling in his dad's hold. "I'm gonna show!"

His parents just laughed. Ichigo pouted. No one was taking him seriously.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Ichigo didn't know it, but later that evening his parents discussed this 'Red Lady'.

"You're sure it isn't a ghost?" Masaki asked her husband.

"Nah. If it was, Kisuke would have taken care of it," Isshin reassured them. "He may slack off with the konsou from time to time, but he wouldn't let one of them remain in his shop. Ichigo is safe."

"I hope so," she said. "I know that it is normal for children his age to have an imaginary friend, but with Ichigo…."

Isshin laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "I know. I hate not being able to see them too. If it helps, I'll tell Kisuke that we think Ichigo saw a ghost. If there is one he'll get rid of it."

Turned out that Kisuke hadn't detected any ghosts in or near his shop. But, like Masaki's said, Ichigo _was_ the right age for imaginary friends.

Both parents were relieved at the reassurance. Ichigo's imagination was hardly going to be a danger to him.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

The next time Ichigo saw Red Lady at the candy shop he complained about his parents unreasonableness in regards to vegetables and candy. She laughed and poked fun at him, but at least she offered him some advice after she was done.

"You know Urahara Kisuke, the owner of this shop?"

Ichigo nodded fervently. It was hard to miss the cheerful man who his mom always had tea with while he chose what sweets he wanted. "Silly man with floofy hair and hat and clogs."

She smirked at that description, a pretty moon-shaped curve of red beneath laughing eyes. "That one exactly. Tell him why you think he wears that atrocious hat and fan of his and he will help you. Do _not_ tell him about me though."

Ichigo blinked. "Why not? Are you playin' a game?"

Red Lady chuckled. "Hm, yes. Yes, we are. He is not aware of my presence and I am curious to see how long it will remain that way now that you can see me." She bent a little closer. "He thinks he is very clever, but I rather would see how quick he can figure this out. He could use the practice and it would be amusing. It can be our little game with him."

Ichigo snickered. "Okay," he promised with a grin. "I won't tell."

"Good," she purred. "Now, let us see if we can convince him to help you acquire some items."

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

It was tricky to sneak behind his mom's back to talk to the funny man, but with Red Lady telling him what to do and when, he succeeded.

Urahara looks surprised to have a little kid pull on the hem of his haori, but shook it off and sat down on his haunches so he could look Ichigo in the eye. "Why, hello there, Kurosaki-kun," he said cheerfully, his fan tucked away and a friendly smile on his face. "Is there something you need from lil' old me? Your mother is looking for you right now, you know. Are you looking for a specific type of candy? Do I need to refill some of my stock?"

The man's smile was infectious. Ichigo smiled back, feeling a little shy. It was only thanks to Red Lady standing next to him that he found the courage to say, "I wanna have a hat and a fan, Urahara-san."

Urahara blinked at him. "A hat and a fan?" He tugged on his green and white hat and took his paper fan from his sleeve. "Like these?"

Ichigo nodded. "Yep."

"Why?" the blond asked curiously.

"'Cause then I can eat candy and 'Kaa-chan and 'Tou-chan won't see. 'Tou-chan said you do it too."

Urahara laughed at his reasoning. Grinning, he asked, "Did he? My, how rude of him." He adopted a woeful expression. "Your father is a cruel, cruel man, Kurosaki-kun, accusing a poor, innocent shopkeeper of such a heinous crime. How could I ever let such slanderous accusations pass?"

Ichigo snickered. The blond was _almost_ as silly as his dad. Urahara shook his head, giving him a conspiring grin. "I think I've got _just_ what you need." He stood up, brandishing his fan dramatically. "Follow me, Kurosaki-kun! I will gift you with the most miraculous gadgets you could ever wish! You will be concealing your gluttonous habits from your parents in no time at all!"

"Yeah!" Ichigo cheered, pumping a fist in the air. As he trailed after a whistling Urahara he whispered to Red Lady, "What's glutt'nus mean?"

Red Lady looked down at him from behind her fan. "That you eat too much."

Ichigo frowned and gave her a weird look. How could you ever eat _too much_ candy?

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Ichigo's mother very nearly collapsed from the sheer hilarity of seeing her tiny son dressed up like a mini-Urahara. He was wearing a navy bucket hat with white stripes and fuzzy black trimmings at the rim, a similarly coloured haori that almost reached his ankles and had frankly ridiculous pockets that were nearly splitting at the seams from the amounts of sugary treats stuffed inside, and a white paper fan that was too big for his hands to hold properly. Since he had not mastered the art of angling his fan to conceal his face she could see his cheeks bulging like a chipmunk's as he chewed on what she was sure were far more sweets than she would ever allow him in one go.

The real Urahara was standing next to him, a wide, shit-eating grin on his face as he presented Ichigo almost proudly. "Voilà," he declared with a flourish.

"Voilà what?" Masaki giggled. "My poor boy! He looks like _you_!"

"I know! Isn't it great?" Urahara teased. He patted Ichigo on the head, accidentally-on-purpose shoving the hat over Ichigo's eyes. Ichigo grumbled something, but it was muffled.

Masaki sighed and firmly clamped down on the urge to let out another giggle as Ichigo gave Urahara a baleful look as he pushed his new hat back in position. Unable to resist she pulled her camera out of her bag and snapped a few pictures. This was just too cute!

"If he gets cavities I'm blaming you," she warned the ridiculous shopkeeper. Urahara just grinned unrepentantly.

From the corner of his eye, Ichigo could see Red Lady smirk.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

The fact that he was emulating Red Lady – and, by incident, the weird shopkeeper – was apparently reason for Red Lady to seek Ichigo out. Before that he had only met her at the shop, but now she randomly turned up in his room and when he was out playing. Only ever when he was alone though. She didn't want people to see him talking to her.

"People would not understand," she explained to him one day, when he was playing on his own at the local playground. "Your gift will make them uneasy. It is better to be careful who you allow to know about it."

"Gift?" Ichigo asked, momentarily pausing in his efforts to build a tepee from twigs. _He'd_ just thought it was because of the silly game she was playing with the shopkeeper.

"Your ability to see what other cannot."

"Like you?"

"Indeed."

Ichigo frowned. "But how do I know what people can see?"

Red Lady paused. "You cannot distinguish between me and ordinary people?"

"Distingis?"

"Distinguish. To be able to tell the difference between me and them," Red Lady clarified with an dismissive wave.

"Well, you wear weird clothes," Ichigo pointed out reasonably.

Red Lady gave him a vaguely amused look. "Regardless of attire. Am I not hazy compared to others? More transparent? Do I not give you any odd feeling at all?"

Ichigo shook his head. "Nu-uh. You just look like you."

Red Lady gave a thoughtful hum. "And that person?" she asked, gesturing at an old man sitting on a bench on the other side of the grassy field of the playground.

"No," he said. "Is he a ghost too?"

Red Lady was silent for a while. "He has a chain hanging from his chest," she replied finally.

"Huh? Really?" Ichigo looked a bit better. Yes, there _was_ something dangling from the man's chest! "Cool!"

"Hardly," Red Lady sniffed. "It means that he's dead."

"Oh." Ichigo thought about that. "Can we talk to him?"

Red Lady gave him another long look. " _You_ could talk to him, yes."

"You can't?" Ichigo didn't understand. "But you're a ghost too."

Red Lady smiled. "Not quite. I am a spirit, not a ghost. No one should see me except other spirits. And even they cannot, if I should choose so. You are the one exception."

Ichigo thought about that. "But don't that get lonely?"

Red Lady shrugged. "It is rather the other way around. Before we met there used to be only one person I could talk to, and we only speak when he comes to a special place to meet me. With you added it rather gets quite busy." She spotted his wide, horrified eyes and sighed. "I suppose you make things less boring," she allowed.

Without warning Ichigo jumped to tightly hug her waist. Red Lady was too surprised to do more than freeze at the unexpected touch. With his face buried in her kimono, he missed the look of complete and utter shock that flashed across her face.

Ichigo almost felt like crying for Red Lady. She was so old she was already an _adult_ , and she only ever talked to one person? That sounded horribly lonely. She was so nice, Ichigo didn't want her to be alone! "I'm always gonna talk to you," he promised her. His voice was muffled by the heavy fabrics of her clothes, but he knew she'd heard him when he felt her stiffen. "You can visit me lots and you don't hafta be bored anymore."

After a long silence, Red Lady huffed. She awkwardly patted him on his head, hesitant and careful as if she wasn't sure how hard she should do that to make him feel her touch without hurting him. "That is kind of you, Ichigo-kun," she said. "But hardly necessary."

Ichigo looked up and channelled all the stubbornness and determination he could into his expression. Red Lady's lips twitched at the look on his face.

She heaved a put-upon sigh. "Well, if you insist…." Her lips curled, wild and wicked, like the cat from his mother's favourite story. "I do have some ideas for what we could do."

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

A couple of weeks later Ichigo was kinda sorry about telling Red Lady to visit often. Not enough to tell her to stop coming, he meant it when he said he didn't want her to be lonely, but he had no qualms about whining at her. Mom said big boys didn't whine, but Red Lady always wanted to play games that were no fun _at all._ Her favourite one consisted of staring at people and trying to guess if they had a chain in their chests without looking at their chests. It had been fun at first, but she wanted him to play it _all the time_. It was _boring_.

Red Lady was not impressed and just told him that whining was unsightly, and that if he had time to whine then obviously he wasn't playing seriously.

It was mean, how she always made him sound like a little kid whenever he complained too much. He was almost _four_!

He really wished something interesting would happen, like in the stories his mom read him. It wasn't right, playing games with a ghost and nothing happening. He bet it was because the game was too boring for even monsters to show up.

Ichigo brightened as he spotted a new person entering the park, who as walking as if he was looking for someone. Ichigo tugged on Red Lady's sleeve and pointed. "That one! That one is a ghost!"

She followed his finger and raised a brow at him. "Let me guess," she said dryly. "You identified that one by his appearance, didn't you?"

"Nu-uh. By his clothes," Ichigo said smugly.

She rolled her eyes and sighed, just as the new ghost spotted them. Ichigo nearly bounced on his seat in excitement. The ghost had seen them! And he looked _just_ as weird as Red Lady! Like a person from one of his mom's stories. Old and short, with long white hair and a white beard and moustache. He had some kind of shield on his back, like a turtle, that was kept in place with strings of big beads. They were almost as big as Ichigo's head! The ghost also had a staff in his hand that looked like a snake, and it was taller than he was. Ichigo thought it was a bit silly to carry a staff that big, but he suspected that it would be rude to say so.

Red Lady waited till the new ghost was in hearing distance before she called, "What an unexpected surprise. To what do I owe this visit?"

The ghost looked between her and the exited Ichigo. "Your own absence. So this is where you've been. I was wondering where you'd wandered off to. What's with the lad?"

Ichigo took that as his cue to ask the question that was burning on his lips, "Hello! I'm Ichigo! You look weird. Are you a friend of Red Lady?"

The old ghost stared at him for a moment, as if he had never seen something like Ichigo before. "… Well, that answers that question." He stroked his beard, studying Ichigo with an thoughtful air. "Greetings, lad. Red Lady you call her? You can say that I've known her for a very long time. I take you're the reason for her absence lately?"

"… I think?" Ichigo looked at Red Lady.

"Astute as always," Red Lady said to the ghost with a regal nod of her head. "Where you searching for me for a reason?"

"None beyond curiosity," the old ghost admitted as he sat down on the grass.

"Are you a ghost too?" Ichigo interrupted, grinning with enthusiasm. "Red Lady says she's a special kind of ghost. Are you like that?"

The old ghost raised a thick, bristly eyebrow at her. "'Special kind of ghost'?" he asked with amusement.

Red Lady rolled her eyes, somehow making the gesture elegant and haughty. "I told him I am a spirit, which he apparently classified as a 'special kind of ghost', as he put it. I have to wonder why I bothered correcting him at all."

The old ghost let out a rumbling chuckle. "Well, in a way, he isn't wrong–"

"Except in all the ways that matter," Red Lady muttered.

"– but you're not exactly right either, lad," he said, moving his attention to Ichigo mid-sentence. "We're not ghosts, and you'd do well to remember it. If you have to call us anything, call us spirits."

Ichigo frowned. "But I call her Red Lady, and she said that's okay," he protested, pointing at the spirit in question. Red Lady made a swipe at his outstretched finger with her fan, but by now she had done that so often to get him to quit pointing at people, that he pulled his hand back in time.

"I'm not talking about us personally, lad," the old ghost – spirit – replied with amusement.

"Oh." Deciding he didn't feel like puzzling out the meaning of that comment, Ichigo asked, "Does that mean I can make a name for you too?"

The old spirit looked surprised, before his expression of indulgent amusement returned. Raised a curious brow at Red Lady.

Red Lady just fanned herself, pretending she didn't see his look.

The old spirit huffed and shook his head, the way Ichigo's mom sometimes did when his dad was being too silly. "I don't see why not," he answered Ichigo.

Ichigo cheered and then scrunched his brow, giving it some serious thought.

"Mr. Turtle?" he offered after several minutes of contemplation.

Red Lady made a small disapproving sound. "If you are going to call him after an animal, at least pick tortoise."

"Whatsa tortose?"

"Tortoise. It is very similar to a turtle, but a turtle lives mostly in the water while a tortoise lives on land."

"Oh. Okay." Ichigo grinned at the old spirit. "Can I call you Mr Tortose?"

By then the old spirit was laughing quietly. "You can, lad," he chuckled. "Mr Tortoise truly isn't the worst you could have picked."

"I's thinking of 'old man'," Ichigo admitted. "But 'Kaa-chan says its rude to talk about people's ages."

Red Lady's face twitched just a little, as if she had to make a lot of effort to keep from laughing. She snapped her fan open, demurely covering her face. Her eyes were amused crescents.

"Hm, she's right that I do prefer Mr Tortoise over being called an old man," said the old spirit with a smile, not offended at all. "Though I suppose I should have seen that name coming. We are a fair bit older than you."

"Huh. Does that mean I can call you Old Man?" Ichigo wondered, not having bothered to understand much of the old spirit's words.

With Red Lady's quiet laughter in the background, the old spirit's smile turned a little strained. "No. Please call me the other one."

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

At first, when Mr Tortoise had declared that he'd be joining them for now on, Ichigo was happy. That dimmed quickly when Mr Tortoise made clear that he liked Red Lady's game of 'Alive or Dead?' just as much as Red Lady herself.

Maybe he shouldn't have been surprised. Mr Tortoise was an old man, and old men liked playing boring games, right? Especially games they didn't need to get up for.

"Otou-chan says my 'Kaa-chan's gonna give birth soon. She's _really_ big and 'Tou-chan says they're gonna be cramped if they stay much longer," Ichigo told them, after he'd guessed wrong for the fifth time that day and had abandoned the game in favour of looking for spring flowers for his mom. "You wanna come see the babies?"

Mr Tortoise hummed. "That is wonderful news for your family. Just tell us when they're born and we'll drop by."

"I rather doubt your parents would leave them alone long enough for a proper visit," Red Lady said dismissively, but she had a thoughtful look on her face. "It will be best if we wait until your siblings have grown a little before trying that."

Ichigo shrugged. He was used to Red Lady's preference for secrecy by now. He didn't really care _when_ the spirits would come as long as he could show them whose big brother he was going to be.

Satisfied with their promise, he continued to randomly pick flowers until Red Lady gave an aggravated sigh and dragged him over so she could teach him a bit about proper flower arrangement.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

It took several months and a lot of nudging from Ichigo, but then the two spirits finally came see his little sisters. The baby monitor in the twins' bedroom had made Red Lady wary, but Ichigo had promised that he would not say anything that might give his parents a clue to the spirits' presence. She was still sceptical, but she did truly seem curious about his sisters, so in the end she had relented.

Ichigo nearly bounced to his little siblings' crib, a proud grin on his face as he gestured the spirits to hurry up. Mr Tortoise chuckled and Red Lady rolled her eyes, but both obligingly approached the crib to see.

"Yuzu and Karin," Ichigo informed them happily, pointing out which of the babies was who.

"Hm, how tiny," Mr Tortoise said contemplatively, as if he'd never seen such young babies before.

Red Lady didn't comment. Instead she leaned over the crib to study the girls. Ichigo leaned over the edge of the crib too, gently petting Karin's head. He loved how soft her hair was. Like baby bunny fur, only thinner.

Karin made a soft birdlike sound as she woke up. Sleepy baby eyes blinked, the focus as clumsy as the small, grasping hands. But when the little girl finally succeeded, her eyes didn't focus on Ichigo for more than a few seconds.

They focused on Red Lady.

In the short moment that Red Lady was too stunned to react, little Karin reached out to grasp Red Lady's veil and tugged on it with a squeal of delight. Mr Tortoise looked as if a fish had slapped him.

Ichigo, not realizing or caring what it meant, laughed loudly at their faces.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed and till next time! Have a very Merry Christmas!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel there's something a little weird about this chapter, but I can't put my finger on it. Since it would probably take a long time to figure out what it is, I decided to post it anyway. I may make some minor adjustments later on though. Nothing big, I expect, but it might happen.
> 
> Enjoy.

 

As it turned out, both of the twins could see Red Lady and Mr Tortoise. Red Lady wasn't too happy about it because the little girls kept trying to tug on her veils and robes.

"It's probably the colours. I heard young children are drawn to bright colours," Mr Tortoise said, with what Red Lady had on previous occasions called an inappropriate amount of good cheer. So far the twins hadn't bothered the old spirit too much. For a while they had been distracted by the shininess of the beads that kept his shield in place, but they'd soon abandoned him again for the shimmering fabrics of Red Lady's attire. Red Lady had been quite vexed.

"'S that's why they like my hair?" Ichigo mused, winching a little as a giggling Yuzu managed to grab a fistful and yank, making the hat he'd gotten from the funny shopkeeper tumble off his head. The twins were now old enough to learn to stand, and they practiced it by trying to climb their brother all the time. Their parents thought it was cute. Ichigo himself would have liked it if they quit doing it, but every time he got annoyed and pushed them off the little girls fell hard on their butts and gave him such tearful eyes he always felt incredibly guilty. He had quickly learned to indulge them to keep them from crying.

"Probably," was Red Lady's disinterested reply from where she lounged gracefully on a net of dark threads she had somehow attached to the ceiling, out of reach of the twins' curious little fingers. Ichigo was eying the net with interest, wanting to sit in it too. It looked fun. Like a hammock. He wondered how well it could swing.

Karin was standing underneath Red Lady, one hand clutching a chair to stay on her feet while her attention was elsewhere. With her other she was trying to reach one of Red Lady's dangling sleeves with a look of intense concentration on her round face. Occasionally Red Lady shifted her arm, making the sleeve sway from side to side, tantalizingly out of reach. Ichigo thought it was a little mean. On the other hand, Karin's expression was kind of adorable this way.

Ichigo sighed in relief when Yuzu was distracted by his hat, cooing over the soft fuzz of the rim. He loved his sisters a lot and he really wanted to protect them from anything that might hurt them, but sometimes their curiosity was a bit too much even for him to handle.

"Okaa-chan has me doing karate," Ichigo told the spirits, randomly bringing up a new topic.

"Oh?"

Huh. Red Lady sounded almost interested. Ichigo hadn't though she liked that sort of thing. Not with the way she was dressed.

"Yeah. It was kinda weird. Everyone was hitting each other, like, for real," he informed her.

Red Lady shifted in her hammock so she could look at him better. "You did not choose it yourself?"

"No." Ichigo fidgeted with the hem of his haori. "I mean, I don't mind. I wanna get strong enough to protect 'Kaa-chan and 'Tou-chan and Yuzu and Karin. But getting hit hurts a lot."

"Were you injured?" Mr Tortoise inquired.

"Bruises. Look." Ichigo showed the spirits a rather large purple bruise on his forearm.

Mr Tortoise took the arm and muttered over it. Ichigo faintly caught something that sounded like ' _now how did he do this again?'_.

"If you do not wish to be hurt you should get better, so others will be unable to strike you," Red Lady told him without sympathy.

"I guess…" Ichigo gasped when Mr Tortoise's hands glowed. Awed, he watched his bruise disappear.

"You sound quite reluctant," Mr Tortoise observed, eyes shrewd beneath his bristly eyebrows. "Are you having difficulties?"

Ichigo shrugged, too impressed by his newly healed arm to really pay attention. "It's just kinda hard. I can't always remember what sensei shows us. And one of the other boys said that if you do it wrong you can really hurt yourself, and one told how that happened to his sister and how she couldn't use her left hand right for a long time. I don't want that."

Red Lady tilted her head. "I see. Would you like some help then?"

Ichigo got a bit wary. He didn't remember Red Lady ever looking at him like that, but there was something in her smile and the glint in her eyes that was… scary.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Ichigo had been right to be wary. He'd never thought it with the way she looked, but Red Lady _really liked_ fighting. And she knew a _lot_ about it _._ She insisted he'd show her the handful of kata he remembered and then she helped him practice.

Mr Tortoise just sat on the side-lines when he felt like watching and laughed at him. He totally ignored how mean Red Lady was being.

"Practice makes perfect," she told him as she ruthlessly drove him to perform the sequence correctly, _or else_. "You do not wish to be hurt? Then improve yourself. I bet that girl, Arisawa Tatsuki, works to improve her techniques nearly every day. If you wish not to be beaten by her so easily then you will have to do so as well."

Ichigo whined to Mr Tortoise about it but to his horror, that only caused the more amiable spirit to involve himself in Ichigo's practice as well. Mostly as healer, but from time to time as a teacher. And here Ichigo had thought Mr Tortoise was nice, but he was as much as a slave driver as Red Lady. Just quieter.

It just wasn't fair. And Red Lady didn't even allow him to complain about it to his parents! Apparently she believed his mom and dad wouldn't understand anyway. Ichigo hated it but given how confused his mom and dad had looked when he'd told them he didn't want to practice so much but someone made him – not giving names, to avoid Red Lady's wrath – Ichigo had the feeling Red Lady was right.

Especially when his parents suggested having a talk with Tatsuki about reigning in her enthusiasm a bit. He barely managed to convince them that that wasn't necessary, _really._

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Red Lady's insistence for him to learn karate properly came in handy when a couple of boys from the class above him tried to harass him a few months later. They didn't like him because his hair was weird and he saw ghosts. What kind of reasons were that?

"Hm, you did not win, but I suppose for now that was not too terrible a performance," Red Lady judged critically. Ichigo had taken a few hits but thanks to the practice Mr Tortoise and Red Lady had forced on him, he had managed to avoid the worst of it. Maybe he shouldn't have shoved the other boys, but how could he have known that they would try to punch him?

"Remember, Ichigo-kun, next time they likely will not flee once you have bloodied their leader's nose. You still have a long way to go."

"Yes, Red Lady-sensei," Ichigo muttered, wincing when she made him pull up the leg of his pants so she could heal his scrapped knee. It was the worst injury he had. The rest were just a scattering of minor bruises. The other boys couldn't throw a proper punch at all. They had nothing on Tatsuki.

But Ichigo was starting to see why Red Lady thought he should get better at fighting. If this was going to happen more often…

"Don't look so glum, Ichigo-kun," Mr Tortoise told him. "It is better to learn now, now your sisters do not require your protection yet. That is your goal, is it not? To be able to defend your sisters and your mother? See it as getting ahead of the game."

Ichigo nodded, determined. Looked at Red Lady's hands, where the green glow of healing just faded. It still amazed him, how the spirits made his hurts disappear. "How do you do that?"

"By applying exact amounts of reiryoku to the affected areas and using precise manipulation to mend the injury."

"Oh. That's… difficult, right?" Ichigo asked, brow furrowed.

"It is certainly too advanced for you now," Red Lady agreed with a smirk. Poked the newly-healed skin. "To be honest, it is astounding it works at all. Usually we cannot do this. Apparently our influence on you goes even further than basic interactions."

Ichigo nodded distractedly, more concerned about the odd note of displeasure in her voice. "You don't like doing it?"

Red Lady went still. "I do not mind," she enunciated carefully. Then seemed to think better of what she was about to say and shook her head. "It does not matter, Ichigo. Do not concern yourself."

Ichigo still wanted to know but decided not to push. Grownups always got annoyed when you pushed too much.

He'd just have to keep his eyes and ears open. Red Lady liked him figuring things out by himself anyway.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Yuzu and Karin were ridiculous. When they had gotten the hang of standing and walking they set their minds on trying to imitate their brother's kata. Their mom couldn't stop cooing about how adorable it was.

Ichigo wasn't too shy to admit he thought so too. He did his best to teach them well. He didn't think it was a good idea to leave his little sisters to Red Lady. She could be demanding and mean and she was a perfectionist to the bone. Yuzu and Karin were still too little to be subjected to that. She'd make them cry for sure.

Red Lady just smirked at him and instead coached the lessons from the side-lines. She never missed a mistake and gave stern instructions when she saw him fumble. "Teaching others is a viable method to gain mastery of something," she said in response to his slightly wary and surprised looks.

Ichigo had the suspicion that that wasn't the only reason. If there was one thing he'd learned about the crimson spirit it was that she always had multiple reasons for doing things. He suspected that her _other_ reason for not doing it was that his parents were less likely to notice the spirits' influence on his sisters. Ichigo was the one who was actually taking lessons to learn karate. It would be weird if his sisters suddenly started doing it too seemingly all on their own.

Ichigo still didn't understand why it would be such a problem if his parents knew. But Mr Tortoise was following along with Red Lady's secretive behaviour – albeit with a near-constant expression of indulgent amusement – so maybe it was just a spirit-thing, not wanting to be noticed.

Red Lady had only smiled when he asked and said he might one day understand, but she said that about a lot of things. Ichigo decided not to pursue the issue. She clearly didn't want to tell him and he didn't really care about keeping it quiet. If nothing else, it would give the idiots who bullied him for talking to spirits so much less reason to bother him.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Not much happened after that. For several years, Ichigo's life was fairly routine. Hug his family, have breakfast, go to school. Get picked up from school by mom and go to the dojo, where he and Tatsuki tried to beat each other for the top spot of their class. Tatsuki still won more often than not, but thanks to Red Lady's and Mr Tortoise's insistent training Ichigo gave her a good fight for it. Next was going back home with his mom, spend time with his sisters and any spirit that decided to drop by, and go to sleep. Sometimes Red Lady or Mr Tortoise told them stories before bed. Their stories were always the most interesting. No offense to his mom and dad's stories, but theirs were stories for little kids. They were nice, but not as incredibly exciting as Red Lady's and Mr Tortoise's stories, which were full of monsters and warriors and mysterious people. Theirs were _adult_ stories.

Okay, they were a bit scary sometimes – lot of times really – but Ichigo and his sisters loved them anyway. Well, Yuzu less than Karin, but even she was fascinated by them. The spirits told them in a way that almost made you think they'd been there when they happened. As if the stories were really _real._

That made their stories way cooler than their dad's or even their mom's, even though they were very scary.

The stories became less cool when something weird happened when he was six.

After his sixth birthday Ichigo had started to see two odd, vague shades trailing after him. They were barely there, like faint mist, but definitely not just his imagination. One was pale while the other was dark. And they were slowly getting clearer as the years passed. It was a bit creepy. As if he was being haunted. Ichigo had never been scared of ghosts or yuurei before, but that was before he was being stalked by shades. What if they were evil spirits?!

It wasn't just him who saw them. His sisters, Red Lady and Mr Tortoise could see them too. His sisters thought they were weird too and wondered whether they too would get shades following them. That thought had been frightening. No way did he want weird stalker shades to follow his sisters!

It was just too bad that he had no idea how to keep it from happening. Really, Ichigo didn't even know what he had done to get the shades to follow him!

The spirits' reaction to the shades had been a bit odd, and quite disappointing to the worried Ichigo. Almost… expectant? But when he'd asked all Red Lady had said was that he shouldn't worry about them. It was hard not to worry about stalker shades, but Ichigo tried. It helped that so far, they hadn't done anything but hover somewhere in his vicinity.

Though lately that wasn't the case anymore. After his ninth birthday, it was as if he could hear them whisper sometimes. Faint, like rustling leaves outside or people talking too far away to recognize the words.

It had upped their level of creepy for a while, but Ichigo had gradually gotten used to it. They weren't really worse than the whispers of people talking about his hair or his ability to see ghosts and spirits behind his back. Just more constant. After some time, their whispers even became almost soothing. Like rain against the window could be, or the sound of the wind playing with the trees.

it took him a long time, but he came to like them, his shades. They made him feel safe. Watched over.

He still wasn't willing to risk some of them following his sisters though.

Unfortunately, that was not up to him to decide. He had been stunned when he discovered that some other shades had the gall to start stalking his little sisters. Just one for each of them, but more than enough to make Ichigo frantic with worry. They had showed up shortly after their fifth birthdays and were barely visible even on good days, but Ichigo was on to the sneaky things. He made sure to keep an eye on them.

Red Lady and Mr Tortoise thought it was all terribly amusing.

Traitors. On whose side where they anyway?

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

The next big thing after his sisters' shades showing up happened after a day of hard practice at the dojo. Tatsuki had been particularly spirited because she had a competition in a month and she was chomping at the bit to prove herself once more. Of course, she had taken her enthusiasm out on Ichigo.

"Ooow~," Ichigo muttered as a wrong twitch off his jaw pulled painfully on bruised muscles. His cheek really hurt. The cold of the pouring rain didn't help much with it.

His mother chuckled slightly, shifting her umbrella so it covered him a bit better. "My poor dear, was Tatsuki so hard on you?"

"It's nuts, 'Kaa-chan," Ichigo said, wiping the rain from his face as he clung to her hand. "Her training, I mean. I don't think _I_ train as much as she does!"

"Hm, and you train nearly every day. I wonder whose idea it was for her to do so much?"

"Her own. I'm sure. She's crazy about karate. She wants to become a vale tudo champion."

"Yes, she said that before didn't she?" his mother said thoughtfully. "I have to wonder where she got that idea from."

"She says 'you can't call yourself good at fighting if you can't fight against people with different styles'. And 'vale tudo is all about fighting against different martial artists so it's the best competition ever'."

His mom laughed. "That's certainly true! At least, if you plan to fight lots of different people." A curious look. " _Does_ she plan to fight lots of people?"

"Yes," Ichigo nodded. "How else is she gonna be a champion?"

"It is so nice. She already knows so well what she wants."

Ichigo silently agreed. He wasn't like Tatsuki. Red Lady had pointed that out often enough. Tatsuki had a drive that was unbelievable, a goal that fuelled her passion like coal did a fire. Ichigo didn't have that. Not like her. He fought because he wanted to learn how to protect his mom, but in all the years he'd been training nothing had ever happened where he could use what he'd learned. Not for _real._ Not even against bullies, because otherwise he'd get their parents after him. And while he was sure his mom and dad would always help him if he landed himself in that much trouble, he didn't want them to worry.

He was sure he wouldn't be alone in protecting mom and his sisters anyway. His dad was very silly, but Ichigo knew he could fight too. His dad joined him from time to time while he was practicing and had even given useful pointers once or twice. It was kinda fun, even though his dad was kinda clumsy and had done a few stupid things teaching him. One of them being hitting Ichigo so hard he'd had large bruises for weeks. His mom had been quite mad about that.

Red Lady always looked like she had a headache if she watched his dad for a while, though she did not seem to disapprove of his dad butting in on Ichigo's training. It was weird, but sometimes Red Lady just was that way.

She did always make sure to correct any mistakes he threatened to pick up from his dad though.

Something moved in his peripheral vision. The unexpected motion dragged Ichigo out of his thoughts made him turn his head. At first Ichigo thought it had been the white shade moving, but then he spotted a little girl in some kind of poncho on the riverbank.

His eyes went wide. What was that girl doing there? Didn't she know the water was dangerous so high? Didn't her mom warn her, like Ichigo's had?

She moved again, even closer to the water. The wind tugged harshly at her clothes, but she didn't seem concerned at all.

Ichigo was chilled by a sudden suspicion. Was she… going to jump in?

Without thinking he released his mother's hand, rushing towards the girl. He couldn't let her jump!

Just before he could climb over the railing, the black shade whispered, _:Dead or alive?:_

Reflexively, Ichigo focused on the feeling of the girl, so used to the spirits' favourite game he answered without even thinking about it. "Dead," he responded on autopilot.

His eyes widened when he realized what he'd just said. What it _meant._

"Ichigo?"

Ichigo started, guiltily looking up to his mom. He avoided her eyes and slowly let go off the railing. "Sorry. I thought I saw something."

His mother's eyes didn't lose her worried look, but she smiled regardless. "I see. It must have been very interesting then. But please don't run off, Ichigo-chan? You scared your Okaa-chan for a moment there."

"I'm sorry, 'Kaa-chan," Ichigo repeated. He grabbed her hand and cast one last look at where the girl had been standing before he let himself be led away. She was dead. There was nothing he could save her from.

Instead, he looked at the dark shade with curiosity. That was the first time he had understood what the shades were saying. Would that happen more often from now on? He was a little exited. Maybe he'd finally find out what they were. It'd been bugging him for _ages._

They had only walked a short distance when Ichigo's excitement faded and was replaced by a feeling of unease.

A little further, and it wasn't just uneasiness anymore. Something was not right.

Something… behind them?

Warily, he glanced over his shoulder. And froze.

"Ichigo?" his mom inquired, halting as well. She followed his gaze. Looked back at him, unperturbed as if she hadn't seen the giant hairy thing at all. "Is there something interesting there too?"

Stiffly, Ichigo nodded, not daring to take his eyes off the monster.

The monster started to laugh, and Ichigo tensed. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing straight up.

" **So I was right,"** it chuckled. **"You** _ **can**_ **see me."**

It leered at Ichigo, its eyes crinkled with pleasure in the hollows of its hard bony face. **"I bet you'll taste** _ **delicious.**_ **"**

That broke Ichigo out of his shocked stillness. "'Kaa-chan, run!" Ichigo screamed, tugging on his mom's hand.

Fortunately, Masaki didn't waste any time asking questions. She ran as fast as she could, dragging Ichigo along with her.

"What is it, Ichigo?" she asked, voice tense with urgency and fear. Her grip on his hand was so tight it was almost painful.

"It's a monster!" Ichigo panted as he tried to keep up with his mom's longer strides. Fear squeezed his heart tight. He didn't want to slow her down, but he just couldn't go faster.

His mom let out an uncharacteristic sound of frustration when she felt Ichigo stumble. Without breaking stride she swept him up into her arms. Ichigo clutched his mom tightly, arms around her neck and legs locked around her waist. His eyes widened with fear as she realized how close the monster was behind them. It was still laughing, seeming to delight in the chase.

"Ichigo, grab my necklace," she ordered.

"Huh?"

"My necklace! It's an emergency alarm! Just grab the pendant and twist the top off!"

Keeping a desperate grip with one arm, Ichigo felt around his mother's neck for the long thin chain. He was bounced around with every step his mother took, which made his task more difficult. After several tense seconds of fishing, he finally got his hands on the pendant. It was a silver lemniscate with a pearl in the bottom loop. He'd always thought it was just his mom's favourite necklace. She wore it every day. He hadn't thought it was _important_.

"Break it, Ichigo!" his mother urged him.

"R-right!"

Under the desperate force of his fingers, the lemniscate snapped in two like a dry twig. For a moment, Ichigo stared in surprise. He had expected the metal to be tougher…

He nearly swallowed his tongue when the pearl pulsed and turned black. Something rippled from it, brushing fleetingly against him like a passing wind.

The monster felt it too. It growled and lashed out, too fast for Ichigo to warn his mom.

He didn't realize they were airborne until they landed on grass on the other side of the railing. All breath was knocked out of him and he felt a burning pain in his leg. For a moment, he felt like he might pass out. Distantly, through the whistling in his ears, Ichigo heard a choked-off scream.

" **You! What did you just do, little worm?"** the monster growled menacingly. It prowled closer, amusement returning to its eyes as it watched Ichigo struggle to rise.

Ichigo squirmed, trying to get out from beneath his mom.

His mom, who, he realized with an icy chill down his spine, was struggling as well. It took him several long seconds before he realized the wet on his hands and pants wasn't just from the rain anymore.

His mom was bleeding. Badly. It was as if an iron fist closed tightly around his heart.

" **Ah, can't get up anymore can you, you pesky woman,"** the monster gloated. **"Disgusting little things like you shouldn't interfere with my meals**."

Masaki didn't hear it. "Ichigo," she gasped weakly. "Ichigo, you've got to run. Get away from here."

Ichigo tried to protest, but she cut him off. She gave him a brave smile, pain evident in the tight lines on her face. "Darling, I can't walk. You _have_ to get away."

" **Oh no, kiddo,"** the monster sneered. **"You're not going anywhere. You know why?"** It unfurled a long tongue that teasingly drifted out to run across his mother's bleeding back. **"The moment you run I will eat this woman. And I will start from the legs up, so she'll bid you farewell with her dying screams."**

Ichigo froze. Something white-hot and sour burned in his stomach. There was a tight, brittle feeling in his chest, as if something was about to break. Beside him, the black and white shades shivered, as if about to explode.

His mom. _His mom._ The nicest, prettiest, _greatest_ mom in the world.

His mom was hurt. And the monster wanted to _eat_ her.

There were no words that could describe the sheer magnitude of the desperate fury that rose within him.

No.

No!

" _Noooo!"_ Ichigo screamed, lunging forward. He _would not let that happen!_

The thing in his chest shattered, and beside him, for a single moment, the shades were recognizable as people. Something bright and searing sprung from his hands as he tried to shove the tongue away from his mother. The light reached further than he ever could, splitting the long appendage in two and flashing across the bony face.

The monster reared back, a deafening scream tearing from its throat. The noise felt like stabs to Ichigo's ears, so loud was it.

Ichigo blinked as black spots suddenly filled his vision. Through the rising darkness, he saw that there was a thin fracture on the monster's face. The monster was furious, its eyes full of hate as they met Ichigo's.

Before it could lunge and spear him on its claws, a shadow tore through the monster as if it was no more than a picture made of rice paper.

The last thing Ichigo saw was a woman with dark skin and purple hair reaching out to catch him.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Ichigo woke to a wooden ceiling and Red Lady leaning over him, her face alight with fascination and an inexplicable sort of smugness. Next to her, Ichigo's shades were clearer than ever. Like really blurry images of people in long coats.

It took him a few moments to recall what had landed him here, but then he shot upright. So fast he had to lean forward for a second just to let the dizzy spinning die down.

The moment he could see straight he turned to Red Lady.

"Okaa-chan! My Okaa-chan! Is she okay?" he demanded frantically.

Red Lady let a perfect eyebrow climb. "You do not recall?"

"Recall what?" he asked fearfully. He didn't know what Red Lady was talking about. His mom had been hurt, he remembered that. But he didn't know what had happened after that!

Red Lady hummed. "After you lost consciousness you and your mother were moved to this place. From four in the afternoon to eight in the evening people have been busy stabilizing and healing your mother. It is now nine o'clock in the morning. The Hollow injured her badly enough to kill. She is lucky to be alive."

The question what on earth a Hollow was, was lost in Ichigo's rising panic. He jumped out bed, stumbling a little as one of his legs hurt too much to support him fully. He grabbed Red Lady's sleeve to keep himself steady. He was only vaguely aware that someone had replaced his clothes with his own pyjamas. He looked up to the crimson spirit, eyes wide and pleading. "Can you please take me to her? Please?"

An unexpected voice broke through the haze of panic and worry that surrounded his brain.

"… You know, when you said the kid was _unusual_ I kinda expected something more normal." The voice sounded a little faint, as if they were caught by surprise so badly they had some difficulty processing what was happening. "Seeing and hearing us is already weird enough. Did that brat just seriously _touch_ you?"

Ichigo turned towards the voice and blinked. Yelped and took a hasty step to the side so Red Lady was between him and the weird creature. Warily peeking around Red Lady's robes, he took a better look.

No wonder he hadn't realized they had company immediately. It was a being made of shadows, with round, glowing green eyes with slit pupils. It actually looked a bit like shadows in the shape of a very large, feral cat. Or maybe a tiger.

"B-bakeneko?" Ichigo spluttered, recognizing the creature as something he was sure had appeared in Red Lady's tales.

The large shadow-cat-creature snorted. "If that's what you like to think." Ghostly white fangs gleamed as the creature grinned. "I'm surprised you're bothering with me though. Weren't you going to look for your mom?"

With that, Ichigo's priorities snapped back into place. The cat-thing seemed to know Red Lady, so it was probably a spirit. He wasn't interested in unknown spirits right now.

"Red Lady?" Ichigo asked pleadingly as he looked up to the regal spirit, tugging lightly on her sleeve.

Red Lady tilted her head slightly, but then complied. With a small twist she freed her sleeve and she swept out of the room. Ichigo followed hot on her heels, hobbling as fast as he could to keep up. From the corner of his eyes, Ichigo spotted the shadowy bakeneko walking along. He ignored it.

To Ichigo it felt like ages, but after what was probably only a minute or two, they arrived at a closed shoji door.

Ichigo wiped his sweaty hands on his pyjamas. He wanted to enter, he really did, but he was so scared of what he would find.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a barely-there nudge. He whirled around, only to find the white shade standing close to him, instead of the bakeneko he'd expected. Somehow the humanoid shade managed to convey a startling amount of impatience.

He looked up to the white shade's hazy face. Its head was tilted as if saying 'what are you waiting for?'

He felt a tremulous smile form on his lips. He nodded firmly to the white shade. The white shade was right. He wouldn't figure out anything standing around like this.

Taking a deep breath, he carefully eased the door open and peeked inside.

He let out a shaky sigh of relief when he saw his mom sitting upright in bed, a large pile of pillows supporting her back. His dad was next to her, holding her hand and speaking in quiet, worried tones. His mom grimaced at his dad's words, but her eyes were resolute.

They looked up when he stepped fully into the room. The spirits remained in the doorway, but Ichigo hardly paid attention to them. "Okaa-chan?" Ichigo asked hesitantly.

His mom smiled and spread her arms wide. With a sob, Ichigo threw himself into her embrace.

"My dear Ichigo," she murmured softly into his hair. "You did so well, darling. Okaa-chan is very proud of you."

Ichigo sniffed, burying his tears in the comforting warmth of his mom's shoulder. He clung to her, never wanting to let go. She'd been hurt so bad, he'd been _so scared_ she was going to _die…._

When his sobs finally tapered off, he sat upright so he could look at her better. "Are you alright, Okaa-chan?" he asked, wiping the last tears off his face. He gasped when he spotted a couple of bandages beneath his mom's loose shirt. He scrambled off her lap as fast as he could, fretting all the while. "Oh no, did I hurt you? I didn't mean to hurt you! I'm so sorry-"

His dad laughed, pulling him in an embrace. His mom chuckled weakly. "Don't worry Ichigo-chan," she assured him. "Your Okaa-chan is made of sterner stuff than that. I am mostly healed by now."

Ichigo blinked at her. "Really?" he asked dubiously. His mom had been bleeding really badly! People normally didn't heal that fast, did they? The only ones Ichigo knew who could heal people that fast were spirits, but Red Lady had said she'd never been able to affect someone that way before. Only Ichigo and his sisters.

His mom sighed, her smile turning a little sad. "As much as I ever will," she admitted.

His dad frowned. "My love-"

She shook her head resolutely. "No Isshin. You heard Kisuke-san. I will not give him false hope. It's better that he knows right away. You know I rather have that he hears it from me than that he has to figure it out on his own." She took a bracing breath and gave Ichigo a pained smile. "I'm sorry Ichigo, but the monster really hurt your 'Kaa-chan."

Ichigo felt his lips tremble. His eyes stung as if he'd gotten sand in them. "Okaa-chan? Is… is something wrong?"

His mom's expression was sad and regretful. "I'm sorry, but it is unlikely I will be able to walk again." She rubbed the back of her head awkwardly, attempting an encouraging smile. "I will be fine, but I guess you'll have to get used to your dad picking you up from now on."

For the second time that day, Ichigo fled into his mother's embrace to cry.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yuurei: ghosts and ghost-like beings. There is no real consensus on what the difference is between yuurei and youkai and where human ghosts belong in this, but this is how I define yuurei for now. Ichigo mentions ghosts separately from yuurei because for him, ghosts are things he knows are real, while he has only heard about yuurei through stories.
> 
> Bakeneko: lit. 'changing cat'. The first kanji, 'bake-', means to change form, to transform. 'neko' means cat. There are many different cat-like creatures in Japanese folklore which can be (and often are) confused with the bakeneko, such as the nekomata. However, the name implies that it specifically refers to a shape-shifting cat (or something that shape-shifts into a cat, stories aren't always clear on that).
> 
> For clarities sake, the stories Red Lady and Mr Tortoise tell are not stories about their wielders. Most of them are traditional stories from Japanese folklore, but because Red Lady and Mr Tortoise have experience with a fair amount of the scenarios they can tell them rather convincingly. The stories Masaki and Isshin tell are more on the level of Disney and the more child-friendly movies of Ghibli.
> 
> I'm taking some creative liberties with the alarm-system-cum-necklace, but given that both Masaki and Isshin know on a personal level how dangerous Hollows are to the unwary, I think it's reasonable to assume they had ways to warn Urahara and his crew in case something went wrong. Canon supports this very tentatively. In canon, Grand Fisher disappeared after killing Ichigo's mom. However, we know it targeted people who could see it, and it wasn't _Masaki_ who responded to the lure. So why did Grand Fisher leave Ichigo alive? Given Grand Fisher's personality, I rather doubt it was voluntary. So Grand Fisher was likely chased off by something. Another Hollow wouldn't let Ichigo live for the same reasons as Grand Fisher, so it likely was a Shinigami. There aren't that many Shinigami in Karakura, and if there's someone who'd have the foresight and ability to give Masaki and Isshin warning devices, it would be Urahara. Hence the necklace.
> 
> As for why Masaki isn't fully healed: remember, she's human. A powerless human soul in a very ordinary human body (well, actually she's a Quincy without her powers, but that is basically the same thing). And there's no Orihime to reject the damage. I know we see a lot of miraculous recoveries in Bleach even when people only use healing kidou, but those always happen when people are in spirit form. There are two reasons why I think this matters a lot:
> 
> A) given the amount of damage the Shinigami can survive (such as being run through, thrown through buildings, have several-feet-deep craters slammed with their bodies, being cut in half, and even burned to crisp) we can safely say they are significantly sturdier than humans. If they weren't, Ukitake, Hiyori and Yamamoto would have certainly died in the battle against Aizen. I assume that the strength of the soul and whether or not they're a Visored may play a role in what they can recover from as well.
> 
> B) when Ichigo gets stabbed by Byakuya, some of the injuries transfer to his human body. When he pulls open his shirt to show Urahara he's healed, we see very clear, jagged scars from where he'd been hit (which is odd; given how sharp katana are those should have been thin straight scars, but let's ignore that for now). Scars are basically remains of the damage that was wrought and proof of imperfect healing (as in, some damage simply cannot be repaired). Ichigo's scars alone show that healing kidou isn't perfect and can't get rid of all damage.
> 
> Now, to heal Masaki, Urahara and Tsukabishi very likely used healing kidou. Masaki was hit in the back badly enough that in canon, she died very quickly (I assume that even if a soul is eaten, as long as the body is no harmed it will keep functioning for a while; I've based this on the fact that you have real-life examples of people who are definitely dead but whose bodies are still technically alive). Given the amount of blood she lost and the damage we know Grand Fisher's claws can cause (stabbing straight through people without visible difficulty), I think it's safe to assume that its attack has a good chance of severely damaging her spine. Scars in your spine? Those are bad. With injuries like that it is likely that even in the best case, she will have difficulty walking. At worst, she will never be able to move or feel her legs again.
> 
> Please leave a review and see you all next time!

**Author's Note:**

> For those who are curious what the spirits look like, you can find some concept art [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11008989/chapters/24527541). I am still working on most of them but the ones that are finished will appear there.


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